


Somehow, It Begins Again

by Anamakorga



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: (kinda), Bittersweet Ending, Gen, Human Squip (Be More Chill), Slice of Life, The Squip needs some way to take care of their personal hygiene before they die, Travel, minor comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-12-31 21:37:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18322424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anamakorga/pseuds/Anamakorga
Summary: It's almost funny, the SQUIP thinks, as they choke back tears in the back of an alleyway, how they were made to improve lives, and they can't even seem to keep up with the barest requirements for their own survival.Meanwhile, Jeremy Heere and Michael Mell have their own problems.





	Somehow, It Begins Again

Michael Mells liked to talk a lot, but he could sum up his feelings towards SQUIPs in one word, and that word was hate. Especially at times like this, when he was at a loss for anything to do, stuck with his best friend in the high school bathroom on the first day of senior year, while Jeremy had a panic attack being reminded of the school play that had changed – well, everything, really. Jeremy had dated Christine for maybe a month before she broke up with him (something he would, to everyone’s thus far unrevealedsurprise, admit to).    
“Hey, Jere, listen, listen, listen. It’s fine. You’re fine, I’m fine, it’s all going to be fine...,” Michael didn’t know how long he had been trying to talk Jeremy down, but his words blended into each other, and eventually Jeremy’s breathing slowed to a calm, if shaky, rate. 

“’M sorry.” Jeremy says, rubbing at red eyes in the mirror.

“Don’t be, buddy. It’s not something you can just stop. I get it. Besides, I’d rather be helping you than learning East African history with Burr any day of the week.”

“Ah, Mr. Burr-,”

“ Dead  back in the 180 0 s!” They say in unison, and Jeremy laughs weakly. 

“We should get to class.” He says. “The bell rang a few minutes ago, right?”

“Yeah. See you at lunch – you do have first lunch, right?”   
“Yep. Anyone else, you know?”   
“You’re the popular one, remember? I’m just riding on your coattails.”

This was , apparently, the  wrong thing to say, because Jeremy flinches and  his shoulders hunch.

“ Mmmhmm .”

Michael pats him on the back, then is off to chemistry. “ _ Yes,”  _ He thinks. “ _ Hate is definitely the word.” _

* * *

 

The SQUIP – well, they supposed to  themself ,  _ a  _ SQUIP (they’re one of many) – wakes up. They hadn’t been expecting that. Not after the searing pain that had been Mountain Dew Red forced shutdown. Somehow, though, they were alive, and, sitting up on the bed they were in,  _ physical.  _ Like an actual, solid human being. Was this the afterlife? It shouldn’t be, he was a supercomputer. They didn’t die the same way they didn’t live. 

Though, the SQUIP thought, they’d always felt alive, or conscious, or- whatever. They had to focus at the situation at hand, this being that they were in a place they did not recognize, in the  _ body  _ of someone they did not recognize, and he wouldn’t be surprised if the shutdown process for SQUIPs involved the killing of this body. 

They didn’t want to die, and yet, he didn’t know what exactly to do. On the other side of the room was another person, not currently conscious – though really, they were  probably another  SQUIP. That or they  themself  was an anomaly, a defect, and, they reminded  themself , that wasn’t possible. They were perfect. 

Probably.

He got out of bed, stumbling over his feet a little. Being a holographic projection of the coolest things in a teenage boy’s mind meant that they  _ didn’t  _ trip over things. He barely even had to walk anywhere, because they were always teleporting around to keep up with Jeremy, or to get Jeremy to go somewhere. Their relationship – if one could call it that – had been incredibly push-and-pull, rather than the push-and-shove Jeremy  Heere  into place because he  _ was such a goddamn awkward dork  _ one that the SQUIP would have preferred. 

They heard something outside the door and tensed. Where to hide, where to hide? Somewhere stupid. You wouldn’t expect a SQUIP to hide somewhere stupid. You wouldn’t expect a SQUIP to hide – under the bed! He shoved the window open – a red herring – and scrambled underneath one of the nearby bed frames. Luckily (in this situation), their frame was smaller than most, and they fit easily. 

The door opened, and though they had no real reason to be afraid – besides a near-meaningless suspicion – but a chill ran down their back, and they had to work to keep their breathing regular, and more importantly, quiet.

“Where the hell is it?” Says a voice. The SQUIP flinches. As a rule, SQUIPs hated being called “it”. Whoever this is should know that- shouldn't they?

“It must have woken up early. Look, the window’s open, it had to have gotten out.”

“Then we have to find it. C’mon.”   
Once the two of them left, the SQUIP crawled out from under the bed and brushed themself off. Whoever was supposed to be keeping this place clean was doing a poor job at it. They waited a few moments before leaving the room and stalking down the hallway.

Page Break

“You don’t run into that many ‘your princess is in another  castle’s  without some  kinda  outside intervention!” Jeremy says, shoving more food in his mouth and not bothering to swallow before continuing. “I’m tellin’ you, Toadstool is just a bitch who set this thing up to get Mario to prove his love to her or some shit like that.”

“And I disagree! It’s  _ obviously  _ some outside force giving him misleading information- may I suggest-,”

“You can suggest nothing, because-,”

This went on for some time.

* * *

 

Once the SQUIP had made it out of the building, they realized they really had nowhere to go, and were stuck in the middle of a city with no money, no clothing besides the Air Supply t-shirt and jeans they’d woken up in, and no  _ name.  _ They ran a hand through their hair. Damn it.

* * *

For the most part, life  had felt as though it just continued as it would have before the SQUIP after the Play. Yet, even as he felt that, Jeremy  Heere  recognized completely that life was nothing like it had been before. He realized that he had the option to leave Michael, for one, and go what was  pretty much anywhere  else, and secondly, he was never without a friend. He had  _ someone  _ in every one of his classes, both through his last semester of junior year, and now again.

* * *

The SQUIP just kept walking. They were starving  themself , and they knew it. Still, they kept walking, tall buildings passing by with no  particular features  to tell them apart. They would turn, every hour or so, and eventually they ended up stealing some food from a low-security grocery store, buying something with the few dollars they had managed to scrounge from drainage ditches to lower suspicion.

* * *

 

Three weeks into the first semester, and eight people sat around one of the lunchroom tables, with  all of  the seats taken, and two pillaged from other tables. Michael Mells makes eye contact with Chloe Valentine, and she gives a small shake of her head.  _ Not yet. _

* * *

The SQUIP has a name – Reese Killinger. Reese is fitting for someone of their stature, and gives off an air of vulnerability, but Killinger makes them seem not  _ totally  _ pathetic. It’s precisely the name they give to the official at Linda J. Clancy High School, along with a slew of other meaningless lies. 

* * *

 

“Hey,” Jeremy Heere says. “I’m Jeremy. This is Michael. Can we sit with you?”   
“I-sure. Nice to meet you, Jeremy, and, ah, Michael. I’m Reese.”


End file.
